An overview about Islamic terrorist activities in Syria between 2005 - 2008, if you want to check if the informations are correct or you are searching for further informations (or pictures/videos), in the respective segment, click on the links.

!!! This list is not intended to be exhaustive !!!

Back in 2003, observers in Washington claimed that Syria was bluffing when it said that it was facing a terrorist threat from al-Qaeda and its sister organisations. Syria was inflating the terrorist threat, they argued, to convince the Americans that Washington and Damascus had a common enemy in fundamentalist organisations preaching militant Islam, and to deflect charges of being a supporter of terrorism itself. (By Sami Moubayed 16.12.2008)

2005

On 08.06.2005, the Syrian police clashed with a squad of Jund al-Sham in a Damascus Southern suburb. The squad leader Abu Omar and another activist, Abu Ahmed, were killed and a third one was arrested. The interrogation of the detainee led the police to an apartment where they found a stash of weapons and ammunition, documents which proved the group had planned various attacks in Damascus and surrounding areas, and a car bomb in its assemblage.

On Sunday 03.07.2005, two Syrian security personnel and a militant were killed in a gunfight along the Syrian-Lebanese border, on the Northern slops of Jabel al-Sheikh (Mount Hermon). Other 34 members of the group were surrounded and arrested by the Syrian forces. The group of non-Syrians was heading to Lebanon after they returned, through Syria, from Iraq.

On Monday 04.07.2005 early in the morning, Syrian security agents raided a militant hideout connected to the anti-American insurgency in Iraq, on Mount Qassioun, in the North-West outskirt of Damascus which offers scenic views over the town. The hideout served as the coordination and operational center for the group arrested the previous evening in Jabel al-Sheikh.

Two members of the group were arrested in the fighting, in which four policemen were also hurt. A Syrian official, quoted by the Syrian news agency, identified one captured militant as a Jordanian citizen, Sharif Ayed Saed al-Semadi. Police also reportedly arrested his brother’s wife Manal al-Semadi. The brother himself, Mohammad Ayed Saed al-Semadi surnamed Mohammad Islam (30), was arrested two days later on 06.07.2005 with two other Jordanian brothers Raafat Shihab and Rihab Shihab.

The al-Semadi brothers were close to the Jund al-Sham militant group and were part of a network set up in Syria by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq. Al-Arabiya satellite television channel, apparently with permission from Syrian intelligence, reported the al-Semadi brothers had been in Iraq before the US-led invasion to Iraq in 03.2003. They joined the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary militia which the Iraqi leader formed to fight the invading USA troops and, eventually, joined Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group in Iraq. A Look at the Terror Group Jund Al-Sham by The Associated Press

On Friday 02.09.2005, Syrian forces killed, five members of the militant group Jund al-Sham in a gun battle in the town of Jibreen near Hama. The group was accused of planning bomb attacks in Damascus. Two soldiers were wounded in the clashes. Police seized weapons, bombs and explosives from the hideout house.

On Saturday 03.09.2005, Syrian security forces have clashed with Islamist militants in Hasaka, killing one and detaining two others. Hasaka is on the Western Bank of the Euphrates near the border with Turkey. Syria has been under pressure in recent months to close its long eastern border with Iraq, to stop militants from crossing it to join the insurgency there against the USA-led coalition.

On Sunday 04.12.2005, Syrian security forces clashed with militants planning to launch attacks in the northern city of Aleppo. Two fatally wounded militants were captured and a security force member and two civilians were wounded.

On Wednesday 07.12.2005, security forces raided an explosives laboratory in Aleppo, seizing bomb-making materials, tools and training manuals for attacks against public buildings and security headquarters.

On Thursday 08.12.2005, eight Muslim militants have died in a battle with security forces at a farmhouse in the town of Idlib. In the clash, soldiers shot and killed five extremists and three others committed suicide before they could be captured, Syrian News Agency - SANA reported. The agency also said that the militants belonged to a "Takfiri" group. Syria also said some of the militants' material came from Lebanon.

On Thursday 17.11.2005, four Australian women from Iraqi descent were arrested in Damascus international airport, when they attempted to smuggle a pistol into a flight to Bahrain. The gun was disassembled to its part and scattered in the belongings of the four women. They claimed in their investigation that they intended to change a flight to Australia in Bahrain. The purpose of the pistol was unclear since there was no ammunition available for the gun.

2006

On Friday 02.06.2006, Syrian security had clashed with Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists (Jund al-Sham ?) who were planning to execute terrorist operations in Omayyad Square, site of several important official buildings, including the Syrian army headquarters, the Ministry of Defense, the Customs Department, Syrian Television, the Damascus Opera House and the Assad National Library. In the gun-battle that ensued, one member of Syria's security forces was killed along with a guard at Syrian Television. Two others were wounded. The police managed to gun down four militants, wound two and arrest four.

On Tuesday 12/09/2006, there was an attempt to attack the USA Embassy in Damascus. In the exchange of fire with the Syrian security protecting the USA Embassy a Syrian soldier, Nawfal Khalil and four others were wounded in addition to ten Arab and Syrian citizens who were passing by the Embassy, later one of the Syrian citizens, Ahmad Breikhan, died. Three of the assailants were also killed, a fourth suspect was captured. A Chinese diplomat was also injured by a stray bullet while he was standing on top of the Chinese embassy building, located close to US embassy. CBS News - Video from the event

On Thursday 14.09.2006, an official source at the Syrian Interior Ministry announced, that the anti-terrorism authorities ended investigations into the attack on the US Embassy in Damascus. The source said that the terrorist group which attempted to storm into the USA Embassy comprised of four Syrians from Damascus-countryside, al-Tal neighborhood, from one family: Abdul-Rauf Saleh (31), Samir Abdul-Ghani Saleh (25), who were killed in the attack, Bilal Saleh (25), who was caught wounded and died later in hospital and Ramzi Atef Shalabi (25), who was captured and arrested on the scene of the attempted bombing. Investigations showed that the terrorist group had no organizing relations with extremist organizations abroad, the source noted, adding that Abdul-Rauf Saleh, his brother Bilal Saleh and their relative Samir Abdul-Ghani Saleh were attending religious lessons in Saudi Arabia. Investigations showed that the killed Abdul-Rauf Saleh was the ringleader leader of the group who funded and plotted the terrorist operation. He started preparing for it during his stay in Saudi Arabia with his brother Bilal and relative Samir. "They agreed to execute an attack on the US Embassy in Damascus and planned to bomb the door of the chancery and storm into its offices and kill whoever they find in," the source said.
"After executing the operation, the terrorist group intended to distribute a recording tape to broadcast it on TV stations and mass media under the name of Abu Musab al Zarqawi Brigade," the official source added.

2008

On Saturday 27.09.2008, 17 people have been killed by a car bomb in the Syrian capital Damascus other 14 people, all of them civilians, are reported to have been wounded in the blast. The blast occurred close to a security post in Sidi Qada district, on the main road to Damascus International Airport, in the Southern part of Syria’s capital and close to a local military installation but also to an important Shiaa shrine. On Monday 29.09.2008, SANA Syrian state News agency said the vehicle (A GMC, plate number 83115) had entered Syria from a neighboring Arab country on 26.09.2008 and that an Islamic suicide bomber was responsible for the blast. Reuters - Video from the event

On Thursday 09.10.2008, the Syrian authorities reported that three suicide fighters of the Palestinian radical Fatah al-Islam and a police officer were killed in a clash. The Militants were described by the Syrian authorities as "Iraqi citizens who were renting an apartment in Yarmouk camp". The clash was prompted by the arrest in Syria, some weeks ago, of the Palestinian Fatah al-Islam’s leader, the Jordanian Shaker al-Abssi, who was associated with Al Qaeda in Iraq. Damascus disclosed that a bomb vest was attached to the body of one of the three Palestinian killed in the battle.

Shortly before the clash Syrian air force intelligence stopped five Fatah al-Islam suicide bombers from blowing themselves up in the middle of the crowded Damascus’' Abbasiyyin Stadium. They could have killed hundreds of people.

On Thursday 06.11.2008, Syrian state TV has shown confessions by 11 militants behind the car bomb attack. Among the 10 men and one woman, the daughter of Fatah al-Islam's leader Shaker al-Abssi, was Abdul Baqi al-Hussein, described as being responsible for security of the Sunni Islamist group Fatah al-Islam. Abdul Baqi al-Hussein said the bomber was a Saudi man called Abou Aisha, he also said they had planned to attack Syrian security offices and foreign diplomats.